Dedicated to the One I Love

It has clearly been time for a while for me to get back to eating right and working out regularly. While I still have junk hanging around in my chest from my sinus infection, I am feeling much much better and can no longer use the excuse for not getting my butt out and doing something. I told Hubby the other day that I was considering counting calories. He thought for a moment, and then asked me why. My response was, of course, "To lose weight." (duh) He thought again, and basically what he told me was that he really wanted me to consider it first, because he knows I have a lot going on right now with life and stress and sometimes I am barely holding it together, and with my personality, throwing something in there that involves counting every single calorie that goes into my body could very likely push me over the edge. He offered to sit down with me and consider alternatives that I could use. So we did just that, and came up with a starter plan that I can definitely stick with and that will start getting me to where I want to be. His caveat, though, was that I be accountable to you guys. He is working crazy amounts of hours right now, never gets off when his shift supposedly ends, and when he is home is too tired to do much of anything, all of which means that he isn't really available right now for me to be accountable to. So he has instructed me to let you all know what I am doing, and to update you all the time so that you can get on me if I am not doing what I said I would. Are you up to the task??? It can be fun to yell at me, I promise - at least I know some other people who think so.

Ok, so my ultimate goal is to be a size 12 by the end of the summer (now first question for you all - how do I mark the end of summer? The kidlets go back August 19, fall officially starts September 22...I'm not really sure when to say the end of summer is!) I am a size 14 now, more or less (I was a solid 14 about 5 weeks ago before I let all my toning go.) I am also going to take some measurements so that I can mark my progress with something besides weight, given that I am not weighing in every week per Hubby hiding the scale. Which brings me to question #2 - do any of you have good info on how to go about measuring myself - it seems like I always measure in different places, which is not accurate, obviously.

So here is the plan:

My week begins on Sunday and the last day of the week will be Saturday.

I will not eat after 7:30 p.m. more than one day a week. (that caveat is only in there because Sunday is family dinner, and my mother-in-law cooks, which I have no control over, and she tends to cook later than I do. If she cooks any other night of the week and it is going to be late, I will find something to eat on my own instead.) 

I will workout 5 days a week. I plan to concentrate on walking and The 30 Day Shred, and I am trying out my friend's Wii Fit.

I will drink at least 5 of my plastic cups of water each day. (I have disposable cups which I have marked with a Sharpie to indicate how much is 16 oz of water - four of those cups is equal to 64 oz, so I will have at least 5. I mark each one I drink on the cup with the Sharpie - it may sound hokey, but it is the only way that I can track and make sure I am drinking enough, otherwise I just don't.)

I will allow myself one day a week to have a soda. (But I am striving not to have it every week - it is more of something I want on those times that I eat out at certain places, which doesn't happen very often. I know soda is the devil and I am trying to kick the habit, I swear. I'm just not quite ready to go cold turkey.)

I will allow myself to have sweets on Sundays (within reason) and on one other day of my choosing for special occassions. (Again, I won't have them on the extra day every week, but if something really special comes up, I want to be able to have a bit without feeling awful about it.)

I will finish reading "In Defense of Food" which is really changing the way I look at food.

This may not seem like much to some of you, but for me it is exactly the guide I need. My problem is not so much in what I am eating in my regular meals, but more the sweets I eat when I get stressed or bored, and the soda I turn to when I am feeling run down and tired. So there you go - I will be checking in regularly to let you know what I am doing and how it is going. I already walked/ran this morning, and have had two of my cups of water, so I am off to a good start. I really appreciate your help in this endeavor!

Also, in keeping with Mary's Operation Sexification, I bought a super cute and sexy pair of shoes a couple of weeks ago:

I LOVE them. They go really well with two new dresses I got for church. My next plan is to wear them with a cute pair of dark denim capris and a nice shirt and strut my stuff somewhere.